Customer Reviews

Get On Your Boots

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

I like it when U2 is experimenting. I like it when i don't love a single right of the bat. I like it when it takes a few listens to get into it.
All is this is certainly true of "Get On Your Boots".

I like to think of "Get On Your Boots" as the love child of "the Fly" and "Vertigo". We have some more aggressive guitar playing by The Edge combined with the distinct sonic undercurrent of U2/Eno/Lanois experimentation.

A friend told me this upon listening to goyb "sounds like vertigo part II".
At first glance i could see how he could think that; ie the straight up metal riff of the edge. However, Every time I listen to "Get On Your Boots" I hear something new. To say its got layers is an understatement. If the whole album is blending the sounds of "How to dismantle an atomic bomb" and "Achtung baby" U2 fans will be in for another reinvention of the words Rock & Roll.

Everyone who is complaining about this song and fretting over "what has become of U2" should take a breath and get some perspective. Everyone wondered what they were doing when they followed Boy with October ("MY GOD THEY"VE GONE CHRISTIAN!), and that gave way to War. Everyone then freaked when they followed that with The Unforgettable Fire..but we all know what that lead to - one of the greatest albums of all time. Then the Joshua Tree was followed by Rattle and Hum and later by the Night and Day single and everyone was plotting U2's demise. And then came Achtung Baby which was not in any way the Joshua Tree but fans can still debate about which is better. Then came Zooropa and Pop, but then followed by ATYCLB. Relax folks. This is a good song (not their best) by a band that has been at this for over thirty years. If you want a band that remakes the same album for thirty years go listen to the Rolling Stones or Aerosmith - both good bands, mind you. They just have not reinvented themselves the way U2 has. This is a familiar pattern by a great band that makes great albums rather than one-off one-hit wonders.

Now that U2's catalog has late last year made its way to MP3 downloads on Amazon, there is so much anticipation over their music right now, and that also is shown mostly well for their latest single Get On Your Boots. The first single from their upcoming album No Line On The Horizon, does seem to get your mind pumped up. The song isn't a bad song, and shows Bono and company's rock solid style at a strong pace. While it isn't as strong as the ones from 2004's How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb, it still is a much better Rock song that gets your heart racing than the ones recently released from Nickelback or American Idol wannabe winner David Cook showed last year. I really hope the best for U2 and their upcoming album in March. They definitely have a lot of promise and heart, and I hope this song gets your boots dancing to the rhythm.

Song: B-

One single can't speak for the entire album, personally I don't like it when bands release singles. I feel it tears the album apart, leaving several undiscovered songs that no one listens to, except for true fans, which are few and far between these days with too many sub genres. However, if the band releases half the album as singles, it's a little more acceptable as opposed to two, or maybe even one.

After hearing Boots, I like the direction that U2 are intending to go in. It feels more alternative and experimental. Last time it didn't work out for them, but Boots feels different. First of all, Edge's guitar is sounding very good, with a rock/dance riff as an intro, and then Bono's singing adds that flavour to it, along with Adam and Larry making up the backbone of the song with a tight rythm section. The severaal or so layers in the song add depth to it, which makes for a rich sound. The overall package that is Get on your Boots, is a fine accomplishment for U2, producing something a little different than previous albums of this decade. Boots doesn't speak for the album, no one song does, but the other eleven songs will have an alternative and experimental feel to them.

Hearing Boots makes me look forward to the album. I hope the other songs will have the same musical depth and layers that went into Boots. It should make for a very fine album indeed. Let's just hope it was worth the four year wait.

At first blush, some may compare 'Get On Your Boots' to tracks like 'Vertigo' or 'The Fly', but a few more listens quickly reveal that Get on Your Boots stands on its own as a catchy, quirky, innovative and subversive track that takes you places you don't expect.

This song is the 'Anti-Vertigo'. While Vertigo is based on a catchy guitar riff that is exploited throughout the song in a conventional manner, 'Get on Your Boots' uses a catchy guitar riff to take us through the world of rock/electronica fusion.

The bass is at 11 and Larry Mullen combines a fast beat with electronica percussion sounds that are reminscent of Achtung Baby, which will delight U2 fans from that era. Bono's cadence in the verse may remind listeners of Vertigo or Elvis Costello's 'Pump it Up', but that quickly changes with the chorus, layered by Brian Eno's haunting synthesizer and Edge and Bono's harmonies (always an underrated band strength).

Then, when you least expect it, the song dives forward into a minor key bridge that is derived from flamenco influenced Spanish Rock (or reminiscent of tracks from the Pulp Fiction soundtrack) backed by Beatles like vocal harmonies, which builds to a typically grand U2 resolution as Bono sings 'You don't know, you don't get it do you?!'

Edge provides an understated guitar solo, which is also about not giving into conventional wisdom about how hard rock songs are supposed to sound. If that isn't enough, the song then careens into an electronica wall of sound, seemingly at a half-tempo beat which somehow doesn't kill the groove of the song as Bono emphatically exclaims 'Let me in the Sound!'. The song concludes with a repeat of the chorus where the backing vocals seem strongest.

There is nothing on the radio today that sounds like Get On Your Boots. U2 continues to stay relevant and at the cutting edge of pop music, which is remarkable given that they are in their 3rd full decade.

This isn't "One" or "New Years Day", but it wasn't meant to be. It is just a fun, catchy, pop-rock song. I thought it was OK at best the first time I heard it, but after a few listens, you are hooked. There's more layers to it than you realize at first.

The grinding rock hooks of "Get On Your Boots," are a welcome taste from U2, and have given me even higher hopes that their forthcoming album will be among their best. Refining their sound from HOW TO DISMANTLE AN ATOMIC BOMB, they seem to be comfortable in their more recent groove of mainstream pop. The river they swim in is full of bands making moves towards electropop albums, and U2 appears happy enough to join them. While purists might find this an unsettling change from their JOSHUA TREE days, I for one enjoyed HTDAAB very much, and if NO LINE ON THE HORIZON comes with the same energy and pulsing rock synth anthems, I for one will be very pleased.

I have been a fan of U2 since the early 80s when my Irish cousins mailed me a cassette of a local (to them) band I should check out. The U2 fans who prefer the Live Aid era U2 will not embrace Sexy Boots. But the fans who love the progression of U2's sound over the decades, who embrace the experimentation, should love this tune. It has some great work from the rhythm section - I particularly like Adam's driving bass - some tasty guitar work from the Edge, and Bono in good voice.

After the POP fiasco, the band kept a little closer to its comfort zone with ATYCLB and HTBAAB. But anyone who has been paying attention knows that U2 has been dying to make a record you can dance to for 20 years. Well... here it is. This record fits right in with releases by The Killers or Franz Ferdinand, and that makes me happy because I already own The Unforgettable Fire so I don't need to buy it again or live in the past.

This is a great single and it makes me even more excited to hear the album than I already was. That to me is a successful single release. For those who want something a little more "serious," remember there will be a dozen more songs on the album and I am sure U2 will include some red meat. In the meantime, enjoy this song for what it is: FUN!

I can understand the negative reviews. This is not a non-U2-true-fan friendly single. It's certainly not as catchy as their last 2 album opener singles: Beautiful Day and Vertigo. Personally, I think those 2 singles are out of place compared to the rest of the gems in those 2 albums. So if you like U2 just because of those singles (and dislike pretty much the rest of those 2 albums), then you won't like this song.
My favorite U2 album is Achtung Baby. When I read that this new album has the same attitude of that masterpiece, I was skeptical. Maybe it's just another marketing ploy as usual, I thought. But after I heard this single.... I can't wait for the full album! This is a typical U2 gem that will grow on you if you let it. One listen doesn't do any justice. U2 songs are never guilty pleasures, they're timeless. Seldom do I found a timeless song that I remember loving it the first time I heard it.
I have to agree with some other reviews that this song has a lot of layers. Sounds simple at first, but put your cans on and you'll discover so many different wonderful things on each listen.
Coupled the music with the lyric about war and peace without being preachy; the song is taunting war and flirting with peace, U2 style.
Perfect.

This is one of the worst songs U2 has released. It seems shamelessly slanted towards the commercial, and the lyrics are downright awful. I would have expected more from these guys and I'm hopeful that the rest of the album is better,